Talkback: ‘How I Met Your Mother’ – ‘Daisy’

Okay, so tonight was a Mother-less “How I Met Your Mother,” which either means we get an opportunity to table discussion of the “Is the Mother dead in 2030?” question(*) or it means that her absence will make us focus on that issue all the more.

(*) Cristin Milioti gave an interview where she called the idea “insane,” but it's also possible that she's being on message for the producers, who've been known to dissemble in the press before. Or people have pointed out that last week's episode was called “Vesuvius,” and that earlier in the season Ted realized that word didn't fit in a puzzle, which could mean the whole thing could just be one more head fake from Bays and Thomas. It is up to you to decide what option you prefer.

“Daisy” was otherwise another final season episode that was very broad for much of the running time, with callbacks to old characters (the Captain and BoatsBoatsBoats) and running gags (“The Mosby Boys”), but that then went for a big emotional ending, and a new glimpse of the future.

What did everybody think? Did you like Tracey Ullman as Robin's mom? Did it all hang together, or did the conclusion feel unearned? Or did you just spend the entire thing pondering the latest Mother mystery?

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Marshall and Lily deserved a final episode to finish their own story, it was fine taking a break from Ted this week.

Although the look at the end from Robin about if she found the right guy will lead to some more Ted/Robin garbage in the final episodes.

By: Justin

03.11.2014 @ 4:41 PM

At the end when Tracy ullman asks if she has someone she can trust and depend on, robin says yes. I believe she is talking about Ted in that moment.

By: Justin

03.11.2014 @ 4:41 PM

At the end when Tracy ullman asks if she has someone she can trust and depend on, robin says yes. I believe she is talking about Ted in that moment.

By: DonBoy

03.11.2014 @ 1:35 AM

Well, it does answer the question “Holy moley, how much has Lily had to drink this weekend?”

My current theory on The Mother being dead in 2030 is that if they were really going to do it, they wouldn’t have telegraphed it like that, so they’re just messing with us.

By: Rick

03.11.2014 @ 12:52 PM

I’m fairly certain that what we saw in 2024 was Ted and The Mother dealing with a cancer scare but that she ultimately made it through to remission. It’ll be hand-waved away with a line of VO in the final episode.

By: Jeff R.

03.11.2014 @ 3:23 PM

Time Travellers means that if that’s the case, then the best we can hope for is that in the present day the cancer is back and much worse. 22 years is better than 10 I guess….

By: HolyMosby

03.11.2014 @ 4:38 PM

People need to stop clinging to this idea that Ted asking for the extra 45 days in Time Travellers means, unequivocally, that the mother is dead.

I agree that what we saw in 2024 was a health scare. At the time, they don’t know the outcome and Ted being Ted would have naturally lept to the worst case scenario.

By: RileyJMU

03.11.2014 @ 1:41 AM

To Quote Alan, “Dumb, Dumb, Dumb.”

By: HistoryofMatt

03.11.2014 @ 1:44 AM

Okay… so now there are THREE candidates for a “mother” who won’t be alive to see her daughter’s wedding.

The Mother – Penny

Lily – Daisy

Robin – Her

Wait… Robin? Yes, Robin. Back in the “I’m never getting THAT drunk again” episode, Barney and Robin wake up in a hotel room in Buenos Aires to a baby crying, and they don’t think it’s weird.

In fact, Barney says, “Every time.”

Then Robin says, “I’ll get HER.”

Robin can’t have kids, but that doesn’t mean they can’t adopt.

In the next two episodes, we’re gonna find out that Robin and Barney adopt a girl sometime in the future.

And then, Saget-Ted is going to tell us which important woman in his life will not be alive to see her daughter’s wedding.

And no… it ALL sucks. Screw Bays and Thomas for killing a character we love.

By: Daniela

03.11.2014 @ 2:01 AM

In the scene where Barney and Robin wake up to the baby crying, a woman enters the room and screams at them to put down her baby. Definitely not their baby.

By: HistoryofMatt

03.11.2014 @ 2:04 AM

Not to put too fine a point on it, but duh. I know it’s not their baby.

A crying baby wakes them up, and they find it to be normal.

Barney says, “Every time.” As in, this happens to them often.

Robin says, “I’ll get her,” like she has to do this all the time.

Why? Because they adopted a baby girl.

Regardless of the lady kicking them out of the room, they obviously have a kid at this point.

By: NJMark

03.11.2014 @ 2:34 AM

Robin doesn’t want kids at all. Not by birth. Not by adoption.

By: HistoryofMatt

03.11.2014 @ 2:37 AM

And Marshall wanted to be a judge right now.

Things change.

By: GRubi User

03.11.2014 @ 2:43 AM

Not happening. And on the very, very, very slim chance that this does happen, I wouldn’t even consider that Buenos Aires scene to be a clue. That scene was exclusively played for laughs.

By: HistoryofMatt

03.11.2014 @ 2:52 AM

This is what Bays and Thomas, do, Greg.

They’re gonna set it up where, in the penultimate episode, we find out that one of the three most important women in Ted’s life will not live to see her daughter’s wedding.

My money’s on Robin, for a variety of reasons:

One, for a show called “How I Met Your Mother,” it’s mostly been about Robin and Ted.

Two, when Robin found out she couldn’t have kids, she kinda realized that at some point in her life, she’d maybe want to have kids.

Three, SOMEONE is going to die. There’s no way Ted looks that pained in the last episode unless some “mother” won’t be there to see her daughter’s wedding.

We now know Lily has Daisy, The Mother has Penny, and I guarantee, by the penultimate episode, which will likely be the actual wedding (as the final episode will be the reception where Ted leers at The Mother and then “meets” her at the train station), we’ll find out that Barney and Robin adopted a kid at some point.

And then, during that final episode, we’ll find out who it is who is dead: The Mother, Lily, or Robin.

Again… my money’s on Robin, because it’s looking like the point of the series was how Ted met The Mother, and how big a part Robin, who has been dead a few years, played in helping Ted get to the point where he could be ready for her.

Also… Bays and Thomas have an easy out for Robin’s dying: issues with her lady parts, which we know she already has.

I’m telling you… wait and see.

By: Toph

03.11.2014 @ 3:15 AM

I’m all in on this theory, with the exception that they’re all constantly referred to as aunt and uncle so and so.

Though, I have a feeling you’ve thought about this?

By: GRubi User

03.11.2014 @ 4:04 AM

I’m not saying Robin dying isn’t a possibility. You make a good argument for it. I’m not even saying there isn’t a minute chance that she and Barney adopt or even have a daughter. I’m mostly just saying that the scene at Buenos Aeros where Barney and Robin steal a baby isn’t a clue. It was just them acting stupid.

Plus, based on their reactions in the brief instances that in which we see Teds’ kids, it seems like they know Robin pretty well. This mean that for you to be right, Robin would have to have died fairly recently. And the scene from last week with Ted crying about “not seeing a daughter’s wedding day” took place on The Mother and Ted’s 10-year anniversary, a point at which their daughter would be about 7 and their son about 4 or 5 (I would guess). I can’t see the kids remembering Robin when they only knew at such a young age, especially the son.

By: mike

03.11.2014 @ 4:56 AM

I’ve actually been pondering if Lily is the one that dies. Best bet is probably still the Mother, but … I keep thinking back to “We’re Not From Here” and the letters from the grave, and IIRC, it only stipulated that she was alive in uh … 2029? So, it’s certainly possible that Lily could die at some point soon after that.

Still think the Mother is Option A..

By: fraac

03.11.2014 @ 10:57 AM

But then who is The Yellow King?

By: Wastrel

03.11.2014 @ 11:59 AM

Willow. Willow is the yellow king. [Hey, she tried red and black, why not yellow?]

…wait, that would actually work. And now I’m disturbed by the idea that there may be willow-as-the-yellow-king fanfiction on the internet…

By: HistoryofMatt

03.11.2014 @ 12:40 PM

Toph, my dad’s best friend has been my “Uncle” for my whole life.

That’s not an abnormal thing. Especially for a guy like Ted, who let’s be honest, is not close at all with his blood family.

By: Erika

03.11.2014 @ 12:47 PM

I think Robin makes a lot of sense for who dies based on how Ted has told the story, but I thought it was established in Symphony of Illumination that Robin never has children. (Future Ted says she never became a “pole-vaulter” but that “she was never alone”–I thought it was implied he knew that was code for never becoming a mother.)

By: HistoryofMatt

03.11.2014 @ 12:51 PM

Erika,

Well, we know Ted is an unreliable narrator. Maybe he was being literal. As in, Robin literally never had kids by giving birth, but she did adopt a kid.

I’m not saying this is a perfect theory… but the Buenos Aries scene doesn’t make sense to me any other way.

And that could be it… the Buenos Aries scene just doesn’t make sense and in trying to make it make sense, I’ve come up with an insane theory. ;-)

By: Rick

03.11.2014 @ 12:54 PM

It’s going to be simpler than that: In 2024, Ted and The Mother had a cancer scare, but it was either benign or she made it through to remission.

By: Tsul Kalu

03.11.2014 @ 1:08 PM

What about the Mother’s mother? Maybe she didn’t show up at Ted’s wedding?

By: HistoryofMatt

03.11.2014 @ 1:19 PM

Really? Ted’s gonna look that pained and upset about the mother’s mother not being at their wedding 10 years ago?

C’mon.

By: Karl

03.11.2014 @ 2:52 PM

I think you’re right. I said the same thing in last week’s comments against the angry roar of “don’t kill the Mother”. They won’t. They’re going to kill Robin.

By: rgkioperk

03.11.2014 @ 3:49 PM

If Robin were the one to pass on, it would make sense with the real life report that when Bays and Thomas told Robin how the story ends, she walked away from them and started crying… hmm…

By: NJMark

03.11.2014 @ 4:04 PM

Yes, “things change,” but the fact that Robin doesn’t want children at all is the reason she and Ted broke up in the first place.

By: HistoryofMatt

03.11.2014 @ 4:08 PM

NJ… in the episode where she finds out she can’t have kids, she’s devastated because she realizes that sometime in the future, she could want them, and now she knows for sure she can’t.

Ted and Robin broke up 5 years ago (in show time) about that.

People change A LOT from their attitudes in their mid-20’s into their 30’s.

By: KobraCola

03.12.2014 @ 12:51 AM

Why can’t it be Ted’s mother dying before his own wedding? That’s what I thought he was referring to when I saw the scene (just caught up on this season, so I missed the whole “controversy” over The Mother possibly dying).

By: Jeff R.

03.12.2014 @ 3:53 PM

I’m pretty sure we already know Lily is alive well past the time of that conversation, so that rules her out of this.

By: Meg

03.11.2014 @ 1:55 AM

I knew Lily was pregnant the moment they showed her coming out of a convenience store in the middle of the night. Ted’s whole theory was funny, but super nerds like me know that in Last Cigarette Ever we learned Lily’s last cigarette was when she decided to try to get pregnant with Marvin.

I admit it, I “awww”‘d when they revealed the baby’s name was Daisy. I’m not made of stone people!

Who thinks Robin is thinking of Ted when she tells her mother that she does indeed have someone she can depend on no matter what. She looked downright depressed and paused way too long before answering “yes”. Are they ridiculous enough to “go there” with the Ted/Robin bullcrap again even after that horrendous “Robin floats away” episode?

By: HistoryofMatt

03.11.2014 @ 2:05 AM

Bonus points for remembering Last Cigarette Ever.

By: Lazycrockett

03.11.2014 @ 2:09 AM

Totally agree bout who Robin has in her corner. The Ted/Robin rehash again is just cringe worthy at this late stage of the show.

By: Lazycrockett

03.11.2014 @ 2:01 AM

Its like watching a injured horse, while waiting for the vets to show up and put it down.

By: Horselover Fat

03.11.2014 @ 6:06 AM

Point taken & agreed to, but I did help save a horse this year. His leg was fractured, not broken. So no need to put him down. He is healing well. (Yay!)

By: CB

03.11.2014 @ 2:17 AM

I have to say, I was absolutely delighted by the Captain and his maids singing to each other like the von Trapps.

But otherwise, I didn’t care about anything, and I am at a loss to figure out why Bays & Thomas are wasting these last few episodes on irrelevant storylines and callbacks. In my opinion, the only two things that matter at this point are Robin and Barney’s wedding (does it actually happen, how and why does Robin freak out, etc.) and what happens with Ted and the Mother. So that’s what these last few episodes should be focusing on, in my opinion. Or are they actually HOPING that we all end up underwhelmed (at best) or full of righteous fury (if the Mother dies)?

By: Danielle

03.11.2014 @ 6:02 AM

Are you kidding me? LILY and MARSHALL aren’t important to the storyline? Do you even watch the show?

By: CB

03.11.2014 @ 12:28 PM

Danielle — obviously Lily and Marshall are important to the show. But I think their storyline already got closure, in the episode where they reconciled after their big fight. So I don’t see why we needed yet another episode about them, except that it was an excuse to drag in the Captain one last time. Maybe I’m biased because I’ve been finding them both so annoying lately. But at this stage of things, I just want to see the Barney/Robin and Ted/Mother stories wrapped up. This episode seemed like another pointless diversion to me.

By: cousin oliver

03.11.2014 @ 2:16 PM

HistoryofMatt explains it above why this episode had to exist. It’s not so much to give closure to Marshall and Lily, but to introduce a plot line that creates another possible candidate for ‘mother who won’t be around to see their daughter’s wedding’. While we’re all thinking this storyline was a diversion from last week’s reveal, it was really another layer to the ‘mystery’.

At this point, I’m not even sure the Mosby Boys will be satisfied with the solution.

By: Jeff G

03.11.2014 @ 2:44 AM

Ugh. How many more episodes? I hated the first 80% of the episode. The reveal for Lily and Marshall was well done and it was good seeing them get some closure. But, I’m so aggravated by the show at this point it doesn’t really matter. Just trying to get to the end.

By: Lori

03.11.2014 @ 3:17 AM

That was the least twisty plot twist ever. I spent the whole time thinking “I know it’s not the cigarette thing since it’s already been established by Voiceover Ted that Lily’s last cigarette ever was the day she started trying to get pregnant, so either the writers f*cked up, or this is the laziest red herring ever.” If they wanted to fool us, they could have at least tried.

By: Danielle

03.11.2014 @ 6:04 AM

Get over it. We all know when Lily’s last cigarette was. It still lead to be what was an amazing conclusion to the most realistic, committed couple in the show, thus far.

By: Al C

03.11.2014 @ 3:48 AM

What about the scene with Robin and her mother at the end. “Do you have someone you can rely on, depend on?”

Is this a reference to another Ted / Robin resolution? The locket still could be out there

By: Col Bat Guano

03.11.2014 @ 5:56 AM

Unfortunately, this occurred to me as well.

By: HolyMosby

03.11.2014 @ 4:48 PM

Sadly, I think it’s Ted as well. I guess they think we’ll find it interesting that after so many years of Ted pining for Robin, it’s SHE who will now realize that he’s the one?

Having said that, I’m sticking with my theory that the reason we haven’t seen Robin & the Mother yet is because she plays a vital role in getting her and Ted together.

By: Hawkeye

03.11.2014 @ 3:56 AM

If the kids looked that bored when their dad is telling them about how he met their now dead mother then they have no souls…which is what I feel like watching these last I don’t know, 3 seasons?

By: Lisa

03.11.2014 @ 12:33 PM

Except he isn’t really telling them about how he met her. He mostly telling them about his super awesome life before he met her.

By: Brandon

03.11.2014 @ 4:04 AM

I don’t think I’ve laughed at any moment during the last 3-4 seasons of the show. At this point I just want it to end. It’s depressing watching the show now like watching a once great athlete hang on much longer than they should’ve. And at this point is there any joy in watching Barney and Robin get married? The show had gone to great lengths to make them seem terrifed at the that of marrying each other. I can go on and on. Les Moonves should do us a favor and just show the last episodes next Monday just to put it out of its misery.

By: ghoti

03.11.2014 @ 4:54 AM

Why would Lily pay Linus to keep a drink in her hand at all times if there wasn’t any alcohol in them? Is she just constantly dehydrated?

It leads me to believe there was no plan for Lily to be pregnant until recently.

By: walker black

03.11.2014 @ 5:21 AM

id have to rewatch the sequence to be sure but i think it was to have something to keep her hands (and mouth) busy so she wasnt tempted to smoke cigarettes when she got stressed out.

By: Meg

03.11.2014 @ 2:57 PM

You may be right about this only being a recent development from the writers, but I can buy this–remember she was trying to keep a secret. She was using Linus to make everyone think she was drinking heavily all weekend. I used similar gambits when I was trying to keep my pregnancy secret during the first few months while still going to happy hours and such. If you’re a female drinker who partakes with friends regularly, the moment you stop people call you out on being pregnant.

By: HolyMosby

03.11.2014 @ 4:50 PM

Yeah, I think it alleviates the opportunity for anyone to give her a real drink. Kind of like when she was pregnant with Marvin and Marshall had to “drink for two” at Punchy’s wedding.

By: BigTed

03.11.2014 @ 4:54 AM

When Robin said she had someone in her life she could depend on, it was clear we were supposed to think she meant Ted.

I think that leaves the road clear for a scene in which it’s Ted who realizes — and then has to convince Robin — that she should go ahead with the wedding, and that Barney is her true love, not him. If he could do that, then at long last he’d be able to resolve his feelings for Robin, get on with his life, and be ready to meet the Mother.

Of course, if the Mother had any idea how annoying Ted can be — such as in the scene where he pedantically explained what Lily had (almost) been doing the Captain’s — she would run for the hills anyway. (Seriously, why do they have to make him such an aggravating jerk? I really wanted someone to slap him in that scene, and not on a bet.)

By: stuart

03.11.2014 @ 2:21 PM

You’re on the money with this BigTed, but as we saw last week, it’s clear that the Mother has heard all of Ted’s stories, has seen him at his most annoying and is willing to be with him. Means she’s either a saint or clinically insane.

By: HolyMosby

03.11.2014 @ 4:52 PM

Good point. I hadn’t thought about the scene that was teased earlier where Robin is freaking out on the wedding day and asks for Ted. She thinks she should be with him and he convinces her that she should be with Robin and that’s when he’s ultimately over her.

By: raheem

03.11.2014 @ 5:01 AM

I love this show but it’s starting to drag….it needs to end. And this Ted and Robin thing is getting ridiculous.

By: Fin Alyn

03.11.2014 @ 5:06 AM

At this point I think the idea of the last season taking place entirely the weekend of the wedding would have been a better move. The last couple seasons have been below average/flawed, but this season is a train wreck.

By: Not J

03.11.2014 @ 5:36 AM

More like, “How I Met Your Mother’s Oncologist”, AM I RIGHT?

By: Not J

03.11.2014 @ 5:38 AM

“How I Mourned Your Mother”?

By: Danielle

03.11.2014 @ 6:07 AM

No.

By: Nicki

03.11.2014 @ 6:11 AM

That scene of Tracey Ullman on an airplane screaming “WE’RE ALL GOING TO DIE” was incredibly cringey given the timing. I was surprised they didn’t edit that down. They could have easily cut it after the first shriek.

By: ScarletNumber

03.11.2014 @ 7:38 AM

Ehh, it didn’t happen here, so no one cares.

By: Brendan Noel

03.11.2014 @ 12:22 PM

One of the worst things the show has ever done. Way the hell too broad.

By: Brian

03.11.2014 @ 7:07 AM

Couple other things to note:

* Lily’s dad and Marshall’s mom a future couple? Uh, ok, I guess…

* Right after the credit sequence, the camera sort of lingers on a little Asian girl running by the groomsmen as they eat. Is this some sort of clue to something?

* In the flash forward to Italy, Marshall tells Lily he shipped the Funyuns himself from New York to Italy. So does he stay behind to be a judge after all, and Lily takes the kids to Italy or something like that?

* And lastly, Saget Ted remaking how crazy it is that so much stuff happened at the Farhampton Inn in just a day and a half. Years ago, I would’ve laughed and enjoyed this self-referential line, but in this episode it just made me cringe and angry.

By: HWah

03.11.2014 @ 8:49 AM

Informal poll, how many think we are going to get a straight-forward ending?

If so, why?

Just as they showed that while Lily was drinking all weekend of the wedding, only to find it was all non-alcoholic, I assume they are trying to out-clever us once again in the ending.

The only surprising ending to me would be that there is no “surprise”. And if that is the case, I don’t want to hear a single person in charge of creative decisions cry foul.

By: NJMark

03.11.2014 @ 4:11 PM

I’m sure there will be something we’re not expecting, but it won’t be anything that anyone is predicting.

By: Pete

03.11.2014 @ 11:59 AM

They gave us a baby! We get a little life breathed into the show before people start dropping like flies. I’m hoping for a Six Feet Under-style ending with Daisy driving.

By: Harriet

03.11.2014 @ 1:33 PM

Please let these last two episodes be the writers be messing with the fans who think the mother is dead and Ted is married to Robin. Please let that be what’s happening…

By: EAS

03.11.2014 @ 2:02 PM

The show has now made me hate Lily and Marshall too. I guess that completes the circle. Seriously, Marshall’s immediate instinct after they just had a big fight is that she went off to bang The Captain? That’s what he thinks of his wife?

Also, there were some very strong Ted/Robin implications at the end of the episode. Don’t forget that in the show’s timeline this is just a couple hours after their moment on the beach. So on Robin’s wedding day, she is consumed by her thoughts about another man.

This is how the writers of this show think relationships work.

By: Keith

03.11.2014 @ 2:02 PM

So I guess Marshall puts off being a Judge? They have already messed up so much of his story line. Remember when He and Coote’s “saved the world” according to Ted, but Coote’s is held up in Colorado waiting for the end of the world. I guess we know that he ends up a Judge in 2020 and maybe he saves the world from the bench. I do like we got to see them have another baby as I did start to wonder if they would have another after we saw them drop Marvin off a school.

As far as the Mother being dead I agree with a comment above it seems out of line for Carter and Bays to telegraph it. Pretty much every emotional twist they have had they try to misdirect. My thought is what if the Mother does have cancer in 2024, but in 2030 shes been in remission for 5 years and now cancer free hence why Ted is telling the story. If they do kill her it will change the whole shoe for me in the way Ted is so self involved, and the lack of interest from the kids being told story’s about their dead mother.

By: Tammy

03.11.2014 @ 3:31 PM

So Lilly and Marshall still go to Italy AND Marshall still becomes a judge?

By: watt d fark

03.11.2014 @ 4:43 PM

seeing Tracy Ullman is worth 4 Meowmeowbeanz

Kind of a Very Special Episode, what with the pregnancy and all

By: KathleenJStroh

03.11.2014 @ 5:24 PM

my friend’s step-aunt makes $70 /hr on the computer . She has been out of work for five months but last month her pay was $19843 just working on the computer for a few hours. you can try her

By: universe guy

03.11.2014 @ 6:14 PM

Remember locket is still in play

In the last episode when mother and ted were talking, they mentioned about the story of barney wearing scuba suit, i think theres more to it.
What if Ted tells barney about the locket or Barney finds out somehow,coz he is following ted after he saw ted/robin together in central park last season and he goes to the lake where Jeanette threw the locket and he retrieves it.Now after robin-mom conversation, she is freaking out and she will be more confused about her wedding to barney and at the final moment barney presents the locket and finally ending all robins doubt about barney and BR get married.
Having said that i still think Ted and Robin will end up together at the end,the series has been building up for that and kept bringing up TR even now in the final episodes.I don’t want to believe but i think mother is dying and i have no idea how BR will separate but Ted and Robin are gonna end up together in 2030.

By: oldgraymare

03.11.2014 @ 6:39 PM

I don’t think anyone has mentioned the photo of NPH taken immediately after he finished shooting his final scene – he is dressed in short white tennis shorts and pink three buttoned Tennis shirt. Has Barney decided, after all these years to come out and could he be with Scooter, just wondering?

By: Greg

03.11.2014 @ 8:52 PM

I really hate the Captain.

By: Walter

03.11.2014 @ 10:37 PM

I think we can trust the show’s creators with this ending. After all, they have their new show coming in the fall and no one will watch that one if they screw this up.

By: KobraCola

03.12.2014 @ 12:59 AM

Unfortunately, they might see themselves succeeding immensely where we see them screwing up…

By: Kobrapepsi

03.12.2014 @ 4:43 AM

Kobracola nails it exactly.

One of the two stooges told an interviewer that his favorite season had been #6, but this was even better. I had to go look at Wikipedia to confirm that I hadn’t miscounted.

Yup, season #6 was the Zoey arc & Marshall’s dad dying.

By: Chloe d

03.14.2014 @ 8:36 PM

I think maybe its daisy who dies so lily wont get to see her daughters wedding

By: Bill

03.15.2014 @ 2:58 AM

The whole mother not at her daughter’s wedding is total misdirection. I guarantee they’re not going to give a hint to a big reveal a couple episodes before the end. Instead they’re going to give you something that makes you think that something else happens. This past episode was a microcosm of that exact concept. They made you think (or probably not cause it was such a poor attempt) that Lilly was smoking or cheating when she was pregnant again.

Also that’s terrible writing if the mother is dead. So Ted goes on telling his kids a long winded story (which they complain about constantly) about him and his friends because his wife/their mother is dead?

The idea of Ted and Robin getting together is just as bad. Similarly Robin dying doesn’t make sense because what happens with Barney? The only way to wrap up Barney’s story is for him to marry Robin.

My wild guess is that Ted himself is dying and as the story teller he is this is the story of his life and everything that mattered to him. The story is about how he met their mother because he wants to leave them with hope that even in the most hopeless of situations (and they’ve made Ted’s situation seem as hopeless as possible) that you can find what you’re searching for in life. It also plays well for good drama with the Mother who already lost someone she loved. That would probably be my ending. We’ll see what they’ve come up with though.

By: Nina

03.20.2014 @ 4:46 PM

Isn’t it possible that Ted’s mother is dying or has died so she won’t make it to Heather’s wedding?
All these theories are silly. Lily and Robin are not going to die. The Mother is a possibility since we barely know her and that would free up Ted for Robin. But probably she won’t die either. They won’t spend almost a decade on Ted finding her, just to kill her off.

By: adfs

03.15.2014 @ 7:22 PM

The problem with “Is this a head fake” question is that you do a head fake when the show is going well and people are at the edge of their seats wondering if it’s about to go off the rails. When the show is already well off the rails, then it’s just discouraging even if it turns out just to be a bluff.